Music Picks: Ooh La La Fest, Pavement, Beach House

Also playing Wednesday: ALAN PARSONS at the Grammy Museum; MCCOY TYNER at Catalina Bar & Grill; L.A. OPERA WITH PLACIDO DOMINGO at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

"I am Kris Kristofferson."

Location Info

Map

The Troubadour

9081 Santa Monica Blvd.
West Hollywood, CA 90069

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: West Hollywood

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The Greek Theatre

2700 N. Vermont Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Category: Community Venues

Region: Los Feliz

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The Smell

247 S. Main St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Downtown

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McCabe's Guitar Shop

3101 Pico Blvd.
Santa Monica, CA 90405

Category: Bars/Clubs

Region: Out of Town

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Hollywood Bowl

2301 N. Highland Ave.
Los Angeles, CA 90068

Category: Music Venues

Region: Out of Town

Photos

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THURSDAY/SEPTEMBER/30

JOHN CALE AT ROYCE HALL

L.A. Weekly columnist (and music "Fanatic!") Henry Rollins told us the other day that he's "never seen a bad John Cale show." We agree, and that's saying a lot given that Cale has been playing in public since his teens, first as an avant-garde classical music prodigy, then as a member of the most legendary (almost hallowed in most circles) lineup of the Velvet Underground, and for more than 40 years as an eccentric, always-surprising solo artist. He's done it all (see the Go LA pick for more details) and he's always been younger and cooler than you'll ever be. (You're wearing Betsey Johnson? Cale eloped with Betsey Johnson — in 1968!) Lou Reed might have recorded Transformer, but his old sparring partner keeps living his life like an endless Canto to Mutability. He might be playing all of Paris, 1919, but ­it's always the most fervent version of the present in Cale land. Go. (Gustavo Turner)

PAVEMENT, SONIC YOUTH, NO AGE AT THE HOLLYWOOD BOWL

Tonight's big show at the Bowl is sort of a Monsters of Alterna-Rock spectacle, headlined by the influential Stockton band Pavement, who reunited earlier this year for the first time in a decade. The group's impact has grown exponentially in the years since the breakup, but when they began in 1989, the combination of Scott Kannberg's angular, droning guitar parts and Stephen Malkmus' elliptically surreal lyrics was quite unusual, launching a horde of sarcastic lo-fi indie-rock imitators. Pavement have a strong connection to the middle-billed Sonic Youth, whose bassist, Kim Gordon, has performed in the art-punk side project Free Kitten with Pavement bassist Mark Ibold. While Sonic Youth these days are much mellower and more melodic than in their early-'80s heyday, when their massively towering riffs were rivaled only by the early Swans' noisy, doom-ridden dirges, they're still capable of some intermittently fascinating soundscapes, especially on the songs where Gordon's coolly somber vocals are contrasted by Lee Ranaldo's and Thurston Moore's tangled antirock guitars. Don't miss L.A.'s own weirdo-rippers No Age (see Music feature), whose opening set should recall the more adventurous beginnings of the two bigger bands. (Falling James)

OOH LA LA FEST WITHSEBASTIEN TELLIER,TURZI,ACID WASHED, KAVINSKYAT EL REY THEATRE

The cliché about France is that it's long been incapable of producing Great Rock Music such as the Americans or Brits can do like second nature, and that's maybe owing to the French language itself — too soft, some say, too

nuanced. For its second annual event in L.A., the Ooh La LA fest presents a very hard-hitting and musically varied assemblage of the best new Francophonia, and here's hoping our assumptions shall be utterly crushed. The Record Makers label's 10th-birthday bash at El Rey features American Apparel–approved dance-pop provocateur Sébastien Tellier, new-wavey retro stylists Nouvelle Vague, disco freaks Acid Washed, electro-house DJ mania from Kavinsky and the wicked electro-Krautrock (Frankrock?) sounds of Turzi. The festival also brings sets by the Bewitched, Revolver and Hands on the Top of our Heads at Spaceland on Friday, Oct. 1; and General Elektriks, El Hijo de la Cumbia and the mighty electro-tangueros Gotan Project at Club Nokia on Saturday, Oct. 2. (John Payne)

Also playing Thursday: JON SPENCER BLUES EXPLOSION at the Troubadour (see Music feature); ALICE COOPER, ROB ZOMBIE, MURDERDOLLS at Gibson Amphitheatre; TRAIN, NEED TO BREATHE at the Greek Theatre; SPOON, COLD CAVE at Hollywood Palladium; HELLRIDE at Air Conditioned Lounge; HIGH ON FIRE, TORCHE, KYLESA at the Glass House; ATARI TEENAGE RIOT at Key Club; MCCOY TYNER at Catalina Bar & Grill.